Barça grazes the glory but succumbs to a superior Efes
BARCELONA, 10 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Barça has lost this Friday to an Anadolu Efes Istanbul (82-86) who is still the leader of the Euroleague with his triumph at Palau Blaugrana, in a close game in his final quarter after Barça finally achieved a positive income, but the push that led the Catalans to overcome did not last and Efes, in a final arreón led by Shane Larkin, showed his chevrons.
A crazy game, with few differences and aggressive defenses. The visiting coach, Ergin Ataman, did not finish on the track when he received two techniques, but his team knew how to deal with the final nerves and there, superior to a club that was physically exhausted, they laid the foundations of the victory. Second defeat followed for Barça, which had glory nearby but ended up buried by Turkish energy and Larkin's 26 points.
The Blaugranas were in tow the whole game and without the offensive ability to get up. He did it for a moment, in full swing of Malcolm Delaney's triples (32-31, in the second quarter), but it was a mirage. Andolu Efes led the baton, in the hands of a spectacular Shane Larkin, and forced Barça to burn cartridges in vain.
On a night in which Nikola Mirotic was thick, like a Cory Higgins that just comes out of recovery from a flu process and had no strength to stand out, Brandon Davies stood out. The pivot started thick, with four points in the first half, but he was the architect of all 16 points scored by Barça in the third quarter, where no one else scored and led Efes to take the period.
But in the last one, a more coral club could disturb Efes and, with a triple by Kyle Kuric after a technique to Ergin Ataman, the Turkish coach, put the 66-66 on the scoreboard with more than 6:30 to play. Shane Larkin opened the game with a 0-5 for his team, Anadolu Efes won 10 points, but at the key moment, with another triple of Kuric, Barça took the reins (69-66).
A new game of 6 minutes was opened, with Barça more hardened back and mentally connected, which made Palau Blaugrana the sixth man in liza by connecting with his stand. With effort, with a claw, and despite not having a great success, they came back to lead and there Kuric liked to put a third triple followed, Malcolm Delaney, and open the gap (72-66).
But although Ergin Ataman was expelled with his second technique, despite the atmosphere of the Palau, Anadolu Efes returned to resurface, practically from his ashes, to fly like a Phoenix and get back up. Larkin and the triples, including a final from a Chris Singleton who returned to the Palau with 17 points, were the key.
Barça lost its complaints to the arbitration trio for not punishing the tough Ottoman defense and ended up losing the direction that had led them to overcome. In the end, second consecutive defeat and Madrid and Efes are shot two games away. A small 'mini crisis' of results, after the defeat against Baskonia in Vitoria, for a club that seems to need to charge the batteries to see the ring more easily.
DATA SHEET.
– RESULT: BARÇA, 82 – ANADOLU EFES ISTANBUL, 86 (42-45, at rest).
–EQUIPMENT.
BARÇA: Hanga (2), Higgins (6), Claver (2), Mirotic (14) and Tomic (-) – initial five–; Davies (20), Ribas (6), Oriola (6), Abrines (-), Delaney (15), Kuric (11).
ANADOLU EFES ISTANBUL: Larkin (26), Beaubois (3), Simon (10), Singleton (17) and Pleiss (4) – initial five–; Balbay (-), Sanli (7), Moerman (5), Tuncer (-), Anderson (7), Peters (7).
– PARTIALS: 19-24, 23-21, 16-21 and 24-20.
– ARBITRATORS: Ryzhyk, Rocha and Petek. Without eliminated.
– PAVILION: Palau Blaugrana, 7,031 spectators.
– INCIDENCES: Before the game, Nikola Mirotic received the December 'MVP' of the Euroleague from Juan Carlos Navarro.